Rahul to discuss GST with party leaders today

NEW DELHI: Days after he launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of party general secretaries and in-charge of states on Monday to discuss the national tax reform.

The meeting – to be held at the party headquarters in Delhi — will also discuss the impact of demonetisation on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the unorganised sector, Congress sources said.

The Congress and other opposition parties have already announced that they will observe the first anniversary of note ban on November 8 as ‘Black Day’ and hold protests across the country.

The party is also planning to launch a nationwide campaign against the GST. The Congress argues that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has badly conceptualised the tax reform conceived by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

The Congress vice-president has described the GST as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, a pun on the name of famous Bollywood villain in movie Sholay.

Addressing the 112th annual session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Delhi on Thursday, Gandhi enunciated the Congress’ position if it came to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, stating that the GST was flawed and needs to be reformed and changed.

“Modi has killed the economy by firing double tap shots of note ban and GST into it…Only someone with a very big chest but a very small heart can do this. The GST has unleashed tsunami of tax terrorism,” he had said.

Gandhi also claimed that demonetisation crippled small and medium enterprises and destroyed the unorganised sector, forcing workers to leave urban employment and go back to their villages looking for MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ) work.

CONG IS ALSO PLANNING TO LAUNCH A CAMPAIGN AGAINST GST, ARGUING THAT THE NDA HAS BADLY CONCEPTUALISED TAX REFORM WHICH WAS CONCEIVED BY THE UPA